New Delhi, April 23
The Lieutenant Governor, Najeeb Jung, today took a review meeting to formulate steps for regulating supply of drinking water in summer season and also ordered the Power department to set up a 24x7 control room.

The meeting was attended by principal secretaries, secretaries and heads of departments of Delhi government, Delhi Jal Board (DJB), power, New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) and Public Works Department (PWD).

"The most critical issues for summer are adequate supply of water, power, and municipal functions being robust. There must be a proper delivery of these three services, especially in the summer. All secretaries must take it upon themselves to ensure that there is delivery on these fronts and there should be fixing of responsibility for the non-delivery of services," the LG said.

He directed the DJB, power department and the municipalities to gear up for the summer and ensure proper delivery of services. "The response time to control room queries must be prompt and information must be disseminated properly and shared widely with the public so that they are aware of the ground situation," he said.

The Secretary, Power, asked for police assistance to conduct raids and check thefts.

The LG issued instructions to all the officers to visit the field and submit an action taken report on a weekly basis.

The Chief Executive Officer (DJB) said that the Board is planning to replace the fleet of 121 tankers, which will reduce spillage of water during transportation.

"DJB is facing a shortage of Junior Engineers (JE) and about 700 vacancies are lying vacant. It is exploring the possibility of appointing 300 JEs and retired employees on contract basis during summer season," said a senior Delhi government official.

Directing the Education department, the LG asked it to closely monitor the mid-day meal served to children during the summer and ensure that the highest standard of quality is maintained. He asked the department to conduct inspections of kitchen on a regular basis. "CCTV cameras should be installed in the kitchens of mid day-meal suppliers," he said.

New Delhi, April 23
Shia Muslims today condemned the Congress party for burning an effigy of their seniormost religious leader, Maulana Kalbe Jawad with a religious symbol.

General secretary of Anjuman-e-Haideri, Bahadur Abbas Naqvi said reacting to Kalbe Jawad's call to Muslims to boycott Congress in the Lok Sabha elections, Congress activists on April 19 had allegedly burnt an effigy of Jawad at Jantar Mantar showing his religious dress, headgear (amama). Burning the headgear is an insult to Islam, he said.

He said the Anjuman-e-Haideri, a registered association of Shia sect of Muslims that looks after Karbala and other religious properties, had written a letter to AICC chairperson Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi in this regard.

Instead of extending an apology for the incident, both the Congress leaders have chosen not to acknowledge the complaint. Having seen their stance, the Anjuman submitted a complaint to the Election Commission, but no action has been taken by the Election Commission so far, Naqvi said while addressing a conference.

Speaking on the occasion, another leader Syed Amir Hasan Zaidi, who came from UP to address the conference, said, "Burning headgear is an insult to the religion and it is not allowed in any society. We just appealed to Muslims to boycott Congress in the election and vote for any secular party."

New Delhi, April 23
'Punjabi Mela', a three-day festival, will be organised by the Punjabi Academy in association with the Department of Art, Culture and languages, Delhi government. The festival will showcase the vibrancy of the land of five rivers in its most authentic form.

The festival, being presented as part of the Baisakhi celebrations, will bring together the best of Punjab from traditional artefacts like Phulkari and Punjabi Jutti to Bhangra and Giddha and Punjabi delicacies.

The cultural carnival will be unveiled at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts on April 25 and will put on display various forms of arts. It will provide a glimpse of the rich cultural heritage of the people of the land.

Among the attractions will be performances by eminent Punjabi singers. Among those who will perform during the festival is renowned Pakistani singer Shafqat Amanat Ali.

"Punjabi culture is much more than Bhangra, pop and sarson da saag. It's a rich tradition, many of whose components are today slipping into oblivion.

“Through this festival, we will create the atmosphere of a Punjabi village in a traditional mela-like setting where all the traditional artefacts of Punjab will be displayed and sold," said Jawahar Dhawan, Secretary, Punjabi Academy.

"Punjab's vibrant culture, its rich cuisine and soulful music, have always attracted people. We hope to keep alive many of these traditions through such festival," he said.

While the daytime will be dedicated to display and sale of ethnic Punjabi items like Phulkari, bangles, wooden furniture, the evening will be devoted to Punjabi music.

The first evening will see performances by Gurmeet Bawa, Lachi and Glory Bawa and Jasbir Jassi.

The second day, April 26, will feature Paramjit Sidhu and Shafqat Amanat Ali. The last evening of the festivities will feature Dr Mamta Joshi and Lakhwinder Wadali. 

New Delhi, April 23
The Delhi Metro Museum today organized a workshop on Metro travel for its physically challenged commuters. Vital information about the facilities available for the disabled commuters was shared with the participants of the workshop.

"A power point presentation, detailing the facilities available for the physically challenged commuters was given. A documentary film, which highlighted these facilities at the stations and trains, was also screened," said a senior Delhi Metro Rail Corporation official.

About 40 participants from the age group of nine to 40 took part in the workshop. Metro Museum organized the event in association with Prerna Niketan Sangh, a non-governmental organization (NGO) working for physically challenged people.

In addition to the presentations and film screenings, a drawing competition was organized for the children and a quiz competition organized for the participants aged above 17. DMRC's Director (Finance), KK Saberwal gave away the prizes to the winners of these competitions.

Delhi Metro offers a range of facilities to its differently abled commuters. Facilities such as wheelchairs, lifts with Braille signage, tactile paths for the visually impaired, reserved seating in trains are offered in the entire Metro system.

New Delhi, April 23
Three Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) women personnel were killed and several of their companions were injured when a truck rammed into the side of their bus and then dragging it at a traffic light at Dwarka, Southwest Delhi this morning.

The women personnel who were killed in the accident have been identified as Assistant Sub-Inspector Ram Kala (46), Head Constable Seema Kumari (37) and Constable Saroj Bala (45).

There are conflicting versions on the number of injured personnel. The Delhi Police have reported that 18 CRPF personnel are injured. The CRPF, however, said that out of the 28 CRPF personnel inside the 32-seater bus, 25 are injured. There were 27 female CRPF personnel and a male driver inside the bus when the accident took place.

The police said that the CRPF bus was transporting personnel of the CRPF's 88 Mahila Battalion from the CRPF Camp at Jharoda to Dwarka. About 6.20 am, a truck with a Rajasthan number plate hit the bus at Sector 14 in Dwarka, in front of National University of Law. The bus overturned.

The police registered a case in regard to the accident and are searching for the truck driver who is absconding.

Manoj Kumar, the Commandant of the 88 Mahila Battalion, told The Tribune that after the bus picked up some CRPF personnel from the Jharoda camp, it went to the CRPF quarters located at Sector 16 in Dwarka. "After picking up personnel there, the bus was moving towards Sector 18, where the battalion is located. At a traffic light near Sector 16, the bus was moving in its lane, when the truck came from its left side and crashed into the middle of it. The bus overturned and was dragged to the opposite lane," said Kumar.

Some CRPF women personnel, who also had to go to the location of the battalion and were following the bus in their vehicles, witnessed the accident, according to Kumar. They reported the accident to the police.

Repeated attempts to contact the Deputy Commissioner of Police to confirm the sequence of events were unsuccessful.

Inspector General (Northern Sector), CRPF, Dr AP Maheshwari said 25 CRPF personnel have been injured, including three who were in a serious condition. They are now out of danger.

According to Maheshwari, 11 are admitted to the AIIMS Trauma Centre in South Delhi, six to Bensups Hospital at Dwarka and the rest are admitted to the CRPF hospital in Jharoda.

The post-mortem was conducted at Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital in West Delhi. The bodies have been handed over to their families.

"It is an unfortunate incident. We are giving the best possible medical treatment to the injured and are also providing financial support to the families of the deceased," said Maheshwari.

Seema's husband Ajay said, "She told me that she would come back home early and pick our son from school."

Kumar said that Seema, who belonged to Najafgarh in Delhi, and Saroj, who hailed from Jhajjar in Haryana, were working as tailors in the battalion, while Ram Kala, who was from Alwar, Rajasthan, was performing general duty tasks. One of the main tasks of the battalion is to maintain law and order.

New Delhi, April 23
A 58-year-old employee of a power distribution company was arrested after a 19-year-old girl standing in a queue at a government dispensary in the Lajpat Nagar area, Southeast Delhi, raised the alarm that he was touching her inappropriately.

The accused has been identified as Gyan Prakash, who is reportedly a section officer with a power distribution company in Delhi.

The victim had gone to collect medicines from a government dispensary in Lajpat Nagar on Tuesday afternoon. While she was waiting in a queue, the accused stood behind her.

The accused allegedly began touching her inappropriately. The girl assumed it was unintentional given the man's age and the rush there. She politely asked him to maintain distance from her.

But the accused allegedly kept touching her, even after she made repeated requests not to do so. She then caught hold of the man and raised the alarm.

The public present there beat the accused and informed the police. He was handed over to the police which registered a case of molestation against him based on the girl's statement.

The girl lives with her family in South Delhi and is pursuing her Class XII education from an open school.

New Delhi, April 23
A teacher of a well-known school has accused her school principal and manager of molesting her in Vasant Vihar area of south Delhi.

According to police, based on complaint filed by the woman, a case has been registered against school principal and manager at Vasunt Kunj (north) police station.

Woman alleged in her complaint that both the accused molested her within the school premises in March this year.

The woman said that school manager would often ask her to come home and meet him since 2012.

"The woman stated that one day, principal also called her to his cabin and started appreciating her dressing sense. He allegedly called her sexy and then she left the cabin immediately. Later, she was issued a notice regarding her dressing sense," said a police officer.

The victim said that the incident was repeated on March 14 but this time the principal asked her to get into a compromise with him.

"A case under section 354, 354A /34 was registered against both school principal and manager. Police are investigating the allegations levelled against them and would proceed as per law," officer also added. — PTI

New Delhi, April 23
A 32-year-old alleged gangster, wanted in a dozen cases of murder, attempted murders and kidnapping in Delhi and Gurgaon, was arrested by the Delhi Police.

The accused has been identified by the police as Ravi Kumar, who is allegedly a member of the Sandeep Ghadoli gang, which operates in Delhi and Gurgaon.

Arrest warrants were issued against him by a Gurgaon court for two cases of attempted murder.

Kumar was arrested after the police learnt about a week ago that Ravi would be arriving from Agra to Delhi. They laid a trap at the DND flyover in south-east Delhi's Maharani Bagh, where he was caught.

New Delhi, April 23
CISF security personnel today apprehended three wanted pickpockets from a Delhi Metro station here as they were planning to execute a theft.

A senior official said the three men, identified as Sunny, Soum and Balak Ram, were spotted around 8.15 am by an alert CISF personnel posted at the CCTV control room of Ashok Park Metro station.

The trio were moving around in the Metro station area when the official recognised them from the CCTV video footage.

"Constable David Ekka alerted the CISF ground on staff and they immediately nabbed them," the official said. The three were wanted in two earlier cases of thefts at the Metro, one of which was about pickpocketing of Rs 30,000 of a passenger and the other was about stealing of a costly Samsung Note-3 in the Metro network earlier this month. — PTI

New Delhi, April 23
A scrap dealer's employee was arrested for making up a story of robbery. He told his employer that he had been robbed of Rs 5 lakh near Red Fort. However, the scrap dealer went to the site of the incident, spoke to the people out there and learnt that none of them corroborated what his employee had said. Consequently, he complained to the police, who learnt that the employee had concocted the story as he needed the money for his sister's wedding.

The scrap dealer, Rajesh Kumar (40), is based in old Delhi's Chandni Chowk area. He had employed Amit Kumar (23) six months ago and given him the responsibility of collecting cash from clients.

On Tuesday afternoon, Rajesh gave Amit his scooty and asked him to collect Rs 5,00,000 from a client in Paharganj. About an hour later, Rajesh received a call from an unknown phone number. Amit was on the line.

Amit allegedly claimed that while he was travelling with the cash in a bag, four youths in a Santro car spotted him near Lal Quila. "He claimed the youths robbed him of the entire cash, the scooty and his mobile phone and fled towards Daryaganj," Rajesh told the police in his complaint.

Rajesh immediately reached the site of the incident and questioned locals there. Amit's story was not corroborated by any of the people Rajesh spoke to. He took Amit to the police and lodged a complaint.

A police team went to the site of the incident to collect evidence and speak to the locals, while another team began questioning Amit. He allegedly confessed to concocting the story.

Amit told the police that he plotted with the help of a friend Ajay who allegedly collected the cash, the scooty and the phone from him and hid them in his house. Ajay was also arrested and the cash recovered.